THE SPECIFIC AREAS

Our curriculum at Papillon is broad and balanced and uses a variety of teaching methods to support children’s differing learning styles. We recognise that play is an essential and powerful tool for learning, especially when supported and extended by skilful adults who provide relevant resources and join in children’s play when appropriate. We focus on using all of our senses to facilitate learning and as research indicates, this is very important for effective learning and development.

Our totally safe and secure outside area comes into its own here and is central to our multi – sensory approach.

The garden has a hard surface area, digging, planting and growing areas, ride on toys, climbing equipment and an all year round synthetic grassed area. We use the garden every day and are surrounded by beautiful mature trees which provide us with shelter from the full sun in the summer and homes for wildlife.

As part of our healthy living programme children plant herbs, fruit and vegetables which they then harvest and eat during our healthy snack time or take home to cook with parents.

Our planning for children’s learning and development is informed by observations of children during daily activities; their interests, fascinations and learning styles together with parental input. A child’s keyperson uses this information to plan for the individual child’s next steps in their learning and development pathway.

At Papillon we have also formulated our own developmental recording system, used in conjunction with parents, which provides a rounded picture of each child’s stage of development. This is completed at our termly parents evenings. Our developmental recording system and in depth knowledge of children, is a major strength of Papillon and we regularly receive positive feedback from our feeder schools that our assessments are very accurate and children are well prepared for their future school career.

We incorporate a Topic focus into our weekly planning for children’s learning which provides opportunities to develop and widen children’s experiences, interests, knowledge and language acquisition.

‘If you want something to grow you need to plant a seed.’

Children’s interests do indeed grow and investigations into the topic lead us in further and future planning.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

FRENCH

Twenty one years ago we were the first nursery school in Tunbridge Wells to provide French as part of our curriculum and people thought we were mad. However we have been proved not to be! Research and technology have shown that brain development is enhanced through learning another language. Our French teacher,who is herself French, teaches the children using the medium of stories, songs, rhymes, games and puppets.

DANCE

Dance is a powerful ally for developing many of the attributes of a growing child. Dance helps children mature physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. The physical benefits of dance are widely accepted, but the emotional, social and cognitve attributes have only recently begun to be appreciated. Our visiting dance teacher provides opportunities for children to develop spatial awareness, respond to a variety of musical styles and to work as part of a group whilst developing creative body movement in combination with imaginative story telling.

MUSIC

Music provides a wealth of benefits for children and it is well recognised that we all have innate musicality and that being musical is part of being human. Research shows us that music enhances brain development.

” Musical Bumps is delighted to be working with Papillon Nursery School. As a leading provider of music education for the very young we offer singing, games percussion and puppets! Children taking part enjoy learning all about music in a lively, fun and practical learning environment. The benefits spread far beyond this into all areas of the curriculum. We visit Papillon weekly and classes are run by Lisa.” ( Musical Bumps )